The story I've been told is that they had a Food Hygiene inspection towards the end of last year and were given a 1 out of 5. So they attempted to sort themselves out and had a re-inspection but were given a 0 that time.

As I say, that's only something I've heard third hand, but a quick check on the FSA website does suggest they were indeed given a 1 in October. And if they've had a recent re-inspection it won't have been amended yet.

Things must have been pretty bad to get a 0 or 1, that's basically no hygiene standards or food safety practices. Wouldn't makes them close though, unless they've been told to close for improvements by the council.

Simon_SW17 wrote:Things must have been pretty bad to get a 0 or 1, that's basically no hygiene standards or food safety practices. Wouldn't makes them close though, unless they've been told to close for improvements by the council.

I'm not a fan of these world buffet places, jack of all trades.

I’m not a fan either, they tend to serve very low quality meat. However, in FeD’s previous incarnation, as Flaming Dragon, they had some unusual stuff that wasn’t reconstituted mechanically separated meat. Razor clams and beautiful sticky lamb ribs to name but two. When these places open they seem to serve much better quality food and then accelerate downhill.

Having grown up pretty close to Cardiff, it felt a bit like coming home when, in 2014, I opened my own restaurant in Penarth. Wales will always be home to me and I feel honoured to be part of what has become a thriving food and drink scene.

For many chefs, eating out can be a bit of a busman’s holiday. Not for me, however. It’s pretty rare for my wife and I to have free time, but when we do our local area has its share of hidden gems. Penarth may not be the first place that springs to mind when it comes to tapas, but Bar 44 is exceptional. Brothers Tom and Owen Morgan have three restaurants — the other two are in Cowbridge and Cardiff — each offering a different food and drink menu. This is a favourite spot of ours to unwind on a Monday night when we close. Hand-filleted boquerones, giant Gordal olives and jamón ibérico de bellota, washed down with a glass of dry fino sherry — a busman’s holiday doesn’t get much better than this.

Apart from those infrequent Monday nights, we don’t often get a chance to eat out late, but we have a few daytime favourites. Penylan Pantry (above) in Cardiff is one such place. It’s part corner shop and part deli, and it flies the flag for local producers, the community and the environment, all of which are central to our own ethos.

Another deli that is all about provenance is Canna Deli in Pontcanna. There, friendly Welsh-speaking staff serve products from the country’s best organic brands, together with excellent coffee roasted in north Wales. The Welsh rarebit is a bit of a local legend and a must for new visitors.

— Speaking of local legends, Joe’s Ice Cream is unmissable. Founder Luigi Cascarini travelled from the mountains of Abruzzo in the centre of Italy to Swansea more than a century ago, and this family-run institution remains resolutely old-school. So it was a great day when a Joe’s opened on Wellfield Road, Cardiff, a few years back. Its vanilla ice-cream wafers, served in a boat smothered with sauce and a variety of calorific toppings, are supreme.